The
Distinguished Flying Cross
awarded for heroism or extraordinary
achievement in aerial flight
News and Updates
DFCS to host inaugural evening event
at
River Rats Reunion
The DFCS will host a buffet dinner with a guest speaker on Thursday October 15th to introduce the Distinguished Flying Cross Society to the River Rats. USAF Brigadier General Ron Rand (ret) will be the guest speaker.
Reunion Update - 22 March 2026
Registration for our 53rd Annual Real Reunion is now live, and available for your review. We listened to your feedback from last year's Reunion, and I wanted to call out a few details that I hope meet your approval:
THURSDAY - DFCS hosted buffet with guest speaker
FRIDAY'S FLIGHT SUIT PARTY - We listened to your feedback from last year, and are providing the option of registering with round-trip bus service or without. Also, the cost of the party includes self-serve beer and wine as opposed to waiting in lines at s cash bar.
TACTICS CONFERENCES - Instead of three back-to-back seminars, we will host one TC per day. This should improve attendance and make planning easier for attendees. If you're interested in presenting a TC this year, please send your proposal to me at irish@river-rats.org.
ONLINE REGISTRATION - We've created a stand-alone secure site to submit your online registrations. Initial feedback has been that this new site is much more user friendly than last year's. Our host platform is Zeffy, a system designed especially for nonprofits. While there is no cost for us to use Zeffy, the system does prompt users to make a voluntary donation at the end of the registration process.
For more information, please check the link below:
history making Memphis Belle Crew to be Enrolled in DFCS Honor Roll
Memphis Belle crew early in the combat tour: (top, l to r) Robert Hanson (radio operator), Vince Evans (bombardier), Robert Morgan (pilot), James Verinis (copilot), Charles Leighton (navigator); (bottom, l to r) Cecil Scott (ball turret), Eugene Adkins (top turret), Harold Loch (waist gun), John Quinlan (tail turret), and Bill Winchell (waist gun).
The Memphis Belle is famous because it was one of the first U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bombers to complete 25 combat missions in Europe during World War II without losing a single crew member, a milestone many thought was impossible
First 25 Missions: The crew flew their first mission on November 7, 1942. Completing 25 missions was a milestone few achieved at the time due to perilous conditions and high casualty rates. The crew achieved this status in May 1943 and were celebrated for defying the grim statistical odds of aerial warfare.
The War Bond Tour: After their final mission, the original 10-man team flew the Memphis Belle back to the United States on June 8, 1943. They embarked on a massive 31-city War Bond tour, boosting American morale and encouraging citizens to support the war effort.
Hollywood Fame: Their daring exploits gained immense cultural visibility through the 1944 documentary The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress and a heavily dramatized 1990 Hollywood movie.
DFCS Member to Receive the Pat Tillman Award for Service
Coast Guard rescue swimmer and DFCS member Scott Ruskan will receive the 2026 Pat Tillman Award for serviceat the ESPY's for his heroic actions during the Camp Mystic flood rescue.
The four person crew flew from CG Air Station Corpus Christi to Kerrville. Enroute they encountered severe weather, circumnavigating thunderstorms with visibility often less than 1/4 mile before arriving at Camp Mystic. Arriving on scene, the crew observed unprecedented flooding and extensive damage to the camp area. Ruskan was lowered to the scene where he coordinated the rescues of over 165 girls left stranded by the devastating floods.
AST2 Ruskan and pilot Lieutenant Ian Hopper both received the Distinguished Flying Cross for rescuing the the Camp Mystic campers. Co-pilot LT Blair Ogujiofor and Flight Mechanic Petty Officer Seth Reeves received Air Medals.
Before the 747: The Wild Fleet That Made Air Force One
How eight decades of unlikely aircraft, from a wartime flying boat to a B-24 bomber, built the presidency in the sky.
James Wynbrandt | June 2026
It’s routine now: The President emerges from Air Force One, one more frame in an endless loop of ritual arrivals. But the protocols and photo op, the mission procedures and famous call sign, are all legacies of aviation’s presidential pioneers — the platforms and presidents who forged this flight path well before the current generation of 747-based VC-25 Air Force Ones entered service in 1990.
With U-Boats menacing the Atlantic, Franklin Roosevelt became the first sitting President to fly, journeying to the Casablanca Conference in (then) French Morocco in 1943. A Boeing 314 flying boat, “Dixie Clipper,” operated by Pan American World Airways, took Roosevelt from Miami to West Africa. A Douglas C-54 Skymaster DC-4-based transport, using a crewman from Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA’s predecessor), flew the final overland leg. Wartime censorship rules and a compliant press kept the 22-day mission secret, but once reported, the fait accompli validated the necessity and feasibility of presidential air travel.
Shortly after, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established what would evolve into the Presidential Airlift Group, now under the 89th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, to manage the Commander in Chief’s air transport.
Climb in the cockpit and join a Marine attack helicopter pilot in this authentic and compelling firsthand account of the opening days and nights of the Iraq War.Experience the sights, smells, and sounds of the Cobra, hanging on tight as you're hurled into the chaos of night combat operations. Step through an otherwise closed door and explore the emotions, physical danger, and successes that would shape a generation of aviators.
Coming June 11th
Assigned as NATO Chief of Strategic Basing at ISAF Headquarters, Spargur found himself at the operational nerve center of America's longest war, working under a four-
star general and liaising with CIA operatives tracking high-value targets across the country. Every base closure he planned, every withdrawal timeline he adjusted, carried
consequences that rippled far beyond the conference room.
upcoming Reunions and Symposiums
MARINE FIGHTER FORAY 2026
The MARINE FIGHTER FORAY is on the flight schedule for October 14 – 18, 2026. The Foray will be at the same location as the 2022 Phantom Phoray: Hyatt Regency Dallas, 300 Reunion Blvd, Dallas, TX 75207
(https://www.hyatt.com/hyatt-regency/en-US/dfwrd-hyatt-regency-dallas)
And… the Foray is not just for air crew. We highly encourage any and all Marine enlisted, officer, maintenance, admin, support and family members of the Marine fighter community to attend. Also, if your squadron already holds squadron reunions, consider piggybacking off the Foray and have your reunion concurrent with the Foray in Dallas. Contact the Foray Ops O for details.
The Marine Fighter Foray schedule and venue will replicate the 2022 Phantom Phoray, only much larger since the Foray is being opened up to all Marine Fighter communities. There will be:
- Symposiums
- F-18 and F-35 status and combat deployment briefs to include Iran-Iraq and Afghanistan battle strategies and operations; and
of course… individual “There I was” stories/yarns/tales - Flight jacket / squadron shirts happy hours
- Squadron dinners and photos
- Marine Corps University Interviews
- Professional Group Displays (Martin Baker ejection seats, Lockheed Martin F-35, Top Gun, Distinguished Flying Cross Society)
- Golf tournament
An Overdue Distinction for a Korean War Flying Ace
A new law allows Royce Williams, 100, to receive the medal of honor. Trump should follow up quickly.
On December 22, the Wall Street Journal published an article about retired Navy Captain Royce Willams who will soon receive the Medal of Honor:
"Buried in a recent 3,000-page defense policy bill is good news that won’t receive enough attention. The legislation would allow a living legend of naval aviation to receive the nation’s highest military honor. A Defense Department video called 100-year-old Royce Williams the “forgotten fighter ace of the Korean war.” His valor is worth remembering on its merits, and the history is instructive about the threats now facing the U.S. President Trump should move quickly to award Capt. Williams the medal of honor."
Task & Purpose published the following article that provides background about the actions leading to the final decision to award Captain Williams the Medal of Honor:
Published Dec 8, 2025 3:52 PM EST
Legendary Navy aviator Royce Williams, who shot down four Soviet MiG-15 fighters in 1952, is the inspiration for legislation that would make it easier for troops and veterans to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Photos via the U.S. Naval Institute and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
More than 70 years after he took part in the longest dogfight in Navy history, scoring four aerial victories, Royce Williams might finally get the Medal of Honor.
Over the weekend, Congress released the text for the compromise National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense policy bill outlining spending plans and goals. This year, it is a record $901 billion. Nestled into the large defense appropriations bill is Sec. 591, which would upgrade Williams’ Navy Cross to the Medal of Honor for “acts of valor during the Korean War.”
Those acts involve taking on seven Soviet MiG-15s in a 35-minute dogfight almost singlehandedly, in a battle that was kept under wraps for years despite Williams’ achievements.
On Nov. 18, 1952, Williams — then a Navy lieutenant flying in his Grumman F9F-5 Panther for his second mission that day — was with three other aviators over the Sea of Japan when seven Soviet Air Force fighter planes emerged. Two of the American planes had to return to their ships due to mechanical issues, leaving just Williams and his wingman in the skies as the Soviets closed in. As they flew by, Williams let out a burst of his F9F’s guns, scoring a hit. One MiG went down, with Williams’ wingman breaking off to chase it. Royce Williams was now alone, against six Soviet pilots in jets that were more advanced than his.
Over the course of 35 minutes, Williams banked and weaved his Panther, trying to avoid getting in the MiGs’ sights. He quickly downed a second Soviet jet, and kept using his maneuverability to line up passing shots with his limited ammo. He took out a third. Then he heavily damaged another that was eventually lost.
“In the moment I was a fighter pilot doing my job,” Williams told Task & Purpose in 2022. “I was only shooting what I had.”
Eventually, he ran out of ammunition and was forced to break off. He flew back to the Navy task force — which fired on him at first, mistaking him for the many more Soviet planes that had outnumbered him — and managed to land. After-action inspections found 263 bullet holes in his Panther. Somehow, Williams and the plane survived.
For his actions in the wild dogfight that day, Williams was awarded a Silver Star. But his actions were covered up — and his official victories listed as downing one enemy plane and damaging another — over fears it could heighten U.S.-Soviet tensions. So for the rest of his career, which included actions in Vietnam and commanding a ship, his record stayed that way, the truth kept hidden. It was only in the 21st century that retired Capt. Williams’ story came out.
For more than a decade, there has been a push to get Williams the Medal of Honor, with backers including retired Rear Adm. Doniphan Shelton and members of Congress. Three years ago, in December 2022, then-Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro upgraded his Silver Star to a Navy Cross, saying that Williams “clearly distinguished himself during a high-risk mission and deserve[s] proper recognition.” Williams received the award in January 2023.
The text in this year’s defense spending bill would authorize awarding Williams, who is now 100, the Medal of Honor and waive any time limitations on presenting him with the award.
Voting on the bill is expected this month.
